Feedback: api-reference-transcripts-get-redacted-audio

Documentation Feedback

Original URL: https://www.assemblyai.com/docs/api-reference/transcripts/get-redacted-audio
Category: api-reference
Generated: 05/08/2025, 4:31:02 pm

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Claude Sonnet 4 Feedback

Generated: 05/08/2025, 4:31:01 pm

Technical Documentation Analysis: Get Redacted Audio API

Overall Assessment

This documentation lacks critical information and has several issues that would frustrate developers. The structure is minimal, examples are repetitive and incomplete, and essential details are missing.

Specific Issues & Recommendations

1. Missing Critical Information

Issues:

• No response schema or example response body
• No explanation of what “redacted audio” means
• Missing prerequisites (how to create redacted audio)
• No authentication details beyond header format
• No rate limiting specifics

Recommendations:

## Overview
The Get Redacted Audio endpoint retrieves information about redacted audio files, which are audio recordings with sensitive information (like PII) removed or silenced based on your transcript's redaction settings.

## Prerequisites
- A completed transcript with `redact_pii_audio` enabled
- The transcript must have finished processing
- Redacted audio generation must be complete

## Authentication
Include your API key in the Authorization header:

2. Response Body Section Needs Complete Overhaul

Current Issue: Only lists HTTP status codes without response structure

Recommended Addition:

## Response Schema

### Success Response (200)
```json
{
  "redacted_audio_url": "string",
  "status": "string",
  "created": "string (ISO 8601)"
}

Fields:

• redacted_audio_url: Direct download URL for the redacted audio file (expires after 24 hours)
• status: Current status (queued, processing, completed, error)
• created: Timestamp when redaction was requested

Example Response

{
  "redacted_audio_url": "https://cdn.assemblyai.com/redacted/abc123.mp3",
  "status": "completed",
  "created": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z"
}

### 3. **Examples Section Problems**

**Issues:**
- 8 identical examples (obvious copy-paste error)
- Inconsistent parameter format (`transcript_id` vs `:transcript_id`)
- No response examples
- Missing realistic transcript ID

**Recommended Replacement:**
```markdown
## Request Examples

### cURL
```bash
curl -X GET "https://api.assemblyai.com/v2/transcript/abc123-def456-789/redacted-audio" \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

Python

import requests

headers = {"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"}
response = requests.get(
    "https://api.assemblyai.com/v2/transcript/abc123-def456-789/redacted-audio",
    headers=headers
)
redacted_audio = response.json()

JavaScript

const response = await fetch(
  'https://api.assemblyai.com/v2/transcript/abc123-def456-789/redacted-audio',
  {
    headers: {
      'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY'
    }
  }
);
const redactedAudio = await response.json();

### 4. **Structure Improvements**

**Recommended New Structure:**
```markdown
# Get Redacted Audio

## Overview
[Brief description and use cases]

## Prerequisites
[Requirements before using this endpoint]

## Request
### Endpoint
### Authentication
### Path Parameters

## Response
### Success Response
### Error Responses
### Response Examples

## Examples
[Multiple language examples with responses]

## Error Handling
[Common errors and solutions]

## Related Endpoints
[Links to related functionality]

5. User Pain Points & Solutions

Pain Point 1: Users won’t understand the relationship to PII redaction

• Solution: Add context about enabling redact_pii_audio during transcription

Pain Point 2: No guidance on handling different status values

• Solution: Add status handling examples:

## Handling Different Statuses

```python
if redacted_audio['status'] == 'completed':
    download_url = redacted_audio['redacted_audio_url']
    # Download the file
elif redacted_audio['status'] == 'processing':
    # Wait and retry
    time.sleep(5)
elif redacted_audio['status'] == 'error':
    # Handle error case

Pain Point 3: No error handling guidance

• Solution: Add common error scenarios:

## Common Errors

### 404 Not Found
- Transcript ID doesn't exist
- Redacted audio was never requested for this transcript

### 400 Bad Request
- Transcript doesn't have PII audio redaction enabled
- Invalid transcript ID format

6. Additional Recommendations

1. Add rate limiting details: “Rate limited to 100 requests per minute”

2. Include file format information: “Returns MP3 format audio files”

3. Add URL expiration warning: “Download URLs expire after 24 hours”

4. Cross-reference related features:

   ## Related
   - [Enable PII Audio Redaction](../transcripts/create)
   - [Get Transcript](../transcripts/get)

5. Add troubleshooting section with common issues and solutions

This documentation needs significant expansion to be developer-friendly and reduce support burden.

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